


When Your Art Buddies Are Super Embarrassing And Kinda Ruin Your Life

by TransgenderSollux (orphan_account)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: I got distracted, I'm procrastinating, M/M, Nico is a massive dork, Reyna andRachel pretend like they're a thing for a joke, art stuff in there too, honestly lazily written, rachel and Nico and will are all gay, reyna is super aromatic, they also act like Nico is their son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 12:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5091512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/TransgenderSollux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"Solace, this is not a date. I don't date and these... are my other gay friends." She gestures to you and Rachel with a frustrated wave of her hand, "This is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, my entirely platonic wife." The redhead waves eagerly and knocks over some fries; the two of you are a walking disaster by this point, "And that's Nico. Nico di Angelo. Do you want his number or did his impression of a fountain drive you away already?" You choke, "He's normally a lot paler than that, I think you're embarrassing him."</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Your Art Buddies Are Super Embarrassing And Kinda Ruin Your Life

It's rare for you to go on any kind of trip out with your friends, even to the corner store, because you're not exactly a social butterfly. No, you'd prefer to spend most of your time indoors and moping on your own. But unfortunately, Reyna and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, your mutual friends and art buddies, have coaxed you into a trip to the local dinner.

Let it be known that you did not go down without a fight.

"But I don't even want to go to a diner. I don't even like diners. I may be old fashioned but I'm not interested in diners."

"Jeez, Nico, I had no idea you'd already formed such strong opinions on our local eating establishment." Rachel had raised her almost reddish eyebrows at you- several times you've wondered if that's her natural hair colour and every time, you've decided it must be. You can't get a colour like that out of a bottle- in the same way that she always does. She acts as if everything you says is the very epitome of stupidity.

"How dare you call that greasy place an establishment?"

"You eat at McDonalds about three times a week and you're calling the diner 'greasy'?" Reyna had crossed her arms and you'd struggled to argue with that, because technically she was correct. You did eat at McDonalds regularly. You even ate at diners regularly but only on your own and only when you felt like it. Today, you felt like sitting against your bedroom door to keep your pesky family members out and ignoring the world. Unfortunately, since your friends didn't understand privacy and had hurled rocks at your window until you'd opened it, your plans had apparently been cancelled.

You'd stood by the window, looking down at where the freckled, grinning redhead stood side-by-side with the darker skinned, irritated girl, arguing with them before Reyna had swayed you with:

"Besides, I really need your help with my art project."

See, here's the deal with you and your friends. The three of you have a pretty mutual interest in art and attend the same art club, after school on Wednesdays and any extra time you needed. Originally, you had joined in another attempt to escape your awful parents and if that meant drawing a few circles, no biggie. But it hadn't been long before you found yourself being quickly caught up in the world of art and whoops, all your allowance is going towards sketchbooks and gouache paints and a ton of pencils of all different kinds.

You like to paint and are quite good, you like to think, but you prefer to sketch. And if you do apply any paint, it won't be any colour. You much prefer your work to remain monochrome.

Reyna is more of a landscape painter, having some fixation with old, crumbling monuments. She says something about being able to preserve their glory in paintings. She's pretty good but she needs guidance, she needs rules. Reyna is the sort of person that is very confident but if there's no strict guidelines, she ends up falling short.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare is an incredibly talented painter that deserves more credit than she gets, you think. You'd never say that to her face, of course, but it's true.

The three of you often keep a corner of the art room to yourselves, working quietly whenever you're not arguing over what music to play, and often meet-up to work. There's an exhibit coming up and you all need to complete your work in time for that. You don't even know what you're even drawing and the deadline's in a week. You see some panicked all-nighters on the horizon. Because you also desperately need some help with your art, you agree and grab your sketchbook and carefully climb out of your window and down the drainpipe like you have so many times before.

"That's a good man, Nico." Rachel clapped you on the shoulder and then, the three of you headed down the street towards the diner. You have to meet there because you have a weird family at home, Rachel's parents seem to hate her, and you don't even want to know what's going on with Reyna's dad. Nothing good. You suppose that, in a way, you're united by your terrible parents as well as your art abilities.

"I was thinking that I'd recreate that old drawing I did." Rachel perks up, as you pass the old park you can remember spending a lot of time in when you were younger and not a complete social outcast (just a little bit of one). Your sister took you there. You clear your throat and your mind quickly before you can start thinking about Bianca.

"Which drawing?" You ask, because they're both looking at you now.

"The one I did of the Empire State Building. You remember that?" You nod because you do, "I thought I'd scale it up, make it a little bigger, add some colour."

Not to be outdone, Reyna jumps in, "I was thinking of drawing some places from back home. Puerto Rico. We've got some old photos in the study."

Again, two pairs of eyes- a dark brown set and a bright green set- turn to you, "Nico?"

"I don't know what I'm doing yet."

"Draw another graveyard." Rachel teases, "Or some creepy skulls that you just "stumbled upon"."

"It's not my fault that death seems to plague me."

"Very poetic, Nico." Reyna quips and she ruffles your hair like you're a little kid, just to remind you that they're both a little older. Honestly, they both seem to see you as their adopted child.

As if she could read your mind, Rachel starts grinning. "Don't tease him, honey, he'll throw a tantrum."

"You're too soft on him." Reyna scoffs, "We've got to toughen him up a little."

It's always been a long-running joke that Reyna and Rachel are a thing, since both of them are outcasts and rarely seen without the other. It's strange, two completely different people drawn together like that. They're not together- Reyna's firmly aromantic AND asexual- but for whatever reason, they like to play along with the illusion that they're dating. You play along with it because you honestly don't care enough to argue with them. You gave up on winning an argument with either of them a long time ago.

Reyna holds the door of the diner open, "After you, Dare."

"Thank you, Reyna."

There's an exchange of smirks.

"You're not even dating." You mumble.

"We're secret lovers." Rachel jokes.

You hate your friends.

Once in the diner, you whine at them until they let you sit in the very corner, where likely nobody will notice you. Rachel sits next to you, "trapping you in case you try to bolt", and pulls out her sketchbook. It's nowhere near as tidy as yours, kind of a mess actually, and you are repulsed at the sight of the purple-feathers-orange-glitter-red-paper decorations. Reyna catches your eye and pulls a face that describes your feelings exactly. She's kind of no-nonsense and is carefully not to get glitter on her hands, as she pulls Rachel's sketchbook over and starts to flick through it absentmindedly. It's even messier on the inside.

"I'm going to get fries." Rachel stands, "Nico?"

"Get soda too." You instruct, knowing that you're going to need some kind of sugar to pull through here. You're awful at social interaction, especially for extended periods of time, even when it's just talking to your friends.

"Reyna?"

"Fries will be fine."

"Keep an eye on Nico, make sure he doesn't try and escape." Rachel winks at you and you scowl at her, hating her cheerful attitude and paint-smeared face just as much as you love it. You do love your friends but they can be an annoyance. Just to clarify, that love is strictly platonic. You are definitely NOT straight and Rachel Elizabeth Dare isn't either. And Reyna would run you through with a sword if either of you even looked at her in that way, so the three of you are pretty much set-up to be eternally alone. It doesn't bother you as much as people might think- you like being alone.

"Aye aye, Captain Dare." Reyna deadpans, almost smiling.

You watch as Rachel heads over to the counter and as your eyes follow her across the room, they catch on somebody else. Across the room from you, some boy is sat at a booth on his own. You guess he's waiting for friends, since he does not look like the kind of boy to sit on his own. He looks more like a popular, tanned, all-American, sport-playing, handsome kid with about a million friends. A walking high-school movie cliché. You snort and open your sketchbook to a fresh page, staring at it.

"What are you looking so haughty about?" Reyna raises an eyebrow.

"Am I not allowed to look haughty for no reason?"

"Only I am allowed to look haughty for no reason. I'm the haughty one. You're the miserable one."

"And Rachel?"

"She's the weird one that makes normal people uncomfortable." That's true enough and you press a pencil to the page, looking around in search of inspiration. Again, you catch sight of the boy over there and you can't deny that he's cute. Probably straight but still, cute. You didn't think you would ever describe anybody as "cute", what's wrong with you today? Still, you have no other inspiration.

"Reyna." She glances up as you speak, making a "hmmm?" sort of noise, "Would it be a little creepy to draw somebody without their permission?" The older girl follows your gaze, not subtly, and turns and kneels up in her seat. It's so obvious that you want to slam your head against the table in frustration. Luckily, the boy seems to notice you and offers a wide grin and a half-wave. Reyna turns back to you just in time to watch you melt like a popsicle on a summer day.

"Do you like the boy over there?" She wrinkles her nose, as if she couldn't possibly understand why one person would like another, "You don't even know him."

"I don't like him!" You say, hurriedly, "I just think he would be nice to draw."

"Who doesn't Nico like?" Rachel says, loudly, returning with what looks like as many fries and sodas and slushies as she could hold. It's a considerable amount.

"Shut up!" You say.

"Are you trying to feed all twelve Roman legions?" Reyna raises an eyebrow, as she makes a grab for a blue raspberry slushy. Those things are crimes against humanity as far as you're concerned because why would they deliberately make the flavour and the colour not match up? You take one of the many sodas- why did she get like twenty? How long is she planning to keep you here? Hours, days, weeks? Who knows with Rachel?- and some fries and return to prodding at your blank page.

"Can I draw him?" You remind Reyna of the topic at hand.

"Yes."

"No." Your friends speak simultaneously.

"Do it, Nico!" Rachel says, curious green eyes wide and bright, "He keeps looking at you anyway. Maybe he _likes_ you!" She sings it gleefully and you feel heat rushing to your face. She does this every time they see a boy in public and frankly, it's getting a little old.

"Shut up." You repeat but you obediently begin to sketch an outline, glancing up now and then to admire- uh, check how he's sitting. He's got good posture, sat up straight up and all, instead of slumping like you. And he is good looking, more toned than you. You're on the skinny side, Rachel's more pudgy, so the boy is built much more like Reyna. He's got to work out regularly to look like that. His skin is a tanned shade that's hard to achieve with an HB pencil, his hair difficult to draw, and you find yourself feeling frustrated because it's like you're failing him. You're butchering your drawing and failing this attractive stranger.

A tap on the shoulder and a call of, "Earth to Nico..." wins your attention.

"What do you want, Rachel?" You're erasing, your eyebrows pulled together.

"Your eyes have glazed over." Reyna informs you, "We were worried that we'd lost you for a moment there. Woe be us, our friend passed out from having to draw a mildly attractive boy." She's an expert when it comes to deadpanning, a sarcastic sense of humour that almost rivals your own.

"Only mildly attractive, huh?"

You're half way through taking a sip of soda, when you hear a new voice, and you end up choking and spluttering. You also succeed in spraying both Rachel and yourself with soda and salvia alike but she doesn't complain.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that." It's the boy from across the room and you are ready to die of embarrassment, the ground can just swallow you up now. It's worse because he feels bad for you and hands you some napkins to dab at the stains of SHAME and also soda.

"Sorry, Rachel." You mutter, finishing coughing into your hand and checking your sketchbook for damage.

"Hey, that drawing-" You slam your sketchbook shut before the boy can continue, "Uh, never mind. Mind if I crash your mini art club?"

"No." Reyna puts in before you can get there, "Losers only. Get lost, Solace."

"You know this guy?" Rachel says, "And you didn't tell me, honey?"

"Oh, wow, are you guys on a date?" The boy looks suddenly horrified.

"No!" Reyna spits at him, "Solace, this is not a date. I don't date and these... are my other gay friends." She gestures to you and Rachel with a frustrated wave of her hand, "This is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, my entirely platonic wife." The redhead waves eagerly and knocks over some fries; the two of you are a walking disaster by this point, "And that's Nico. Nico di Angelo. Do you want his number or did his impression of a fountain drive you away already?" You choke, "He's normally a lot paler than that, I think you're embarrassing him."

"Aw, Nico's embarrassed." Rachel wrangles you in a eager one-armed hug, "Isn't that adorable... Uh, what's your friend's name, Reyna?"

"He's not my friend." Reyna says, "He's just some kid in my history class. William Solace. He really likes basketball, I guess, because that's all I could hear about when I was trying to get my work done." She's glaring full-on ice daggers at him.

"Sorry." He says, sheepishly, "Can I sit down? What are you guys working on?" Much to Reyna's displeasure, he plants himself beside her and begins to flick through her sketchbook; either he doesn't have any idea that she's harbouring hatred towards him or he wants to die today, "Hey, these are good! Reyna, right?"

"Wrong." She sighed, "You are an annoyance. See why I didn't think you should draw him, Nico. He's kind of a..." She waves a hand around in a vague sort of gesture, "Well, it's not a word for your precious baby ears."

Will chuckles. Nico is certain that he's redder than Rachel's hair.

"I'm not a baby, I'm fourteen." He said, pointedly.

"That's practically five years old." Rachel drawls, mockingly, "God, no wonder you're so short."

"I am not short." Compared to everybody else at this table, you look like a fifth grader and you hate this.

"He just hasn't hit his growth spurt yet." Reyna says.

Nico has no idea if she's defending him or not.

Will grins, just a little, "Don't you guys ever let up? Leave the poor guy alone." Then, he addresses you, "Nico, can I please see your sketchbook?" And when he's looking at you with those bright blue eyes, you can't resist. You crumble, nodding dumbly, and pass it over. You inspect his expression for any hints of mockery or amusement but find none. He looks as serious as somebody studying a Van Gogh. This makes you feel warm in your chest.

"You're good." He says, finally, "Better than me. A million times better."

"I don't know, I've never seen your work." You shrug.

"Maybe I could show it you sometime." He says, and it sounds an awful lot like a date.

"My baby's got a date." Reyna mocks, a cruel smirk on her face, "Make sure you wipe that food off your face beforehand." Hating yourself, you wipe your mouth on the back of your hand.

"Don't listen to them. They're mean." Will's still grinning at you.

* * *

 

It's a while later, when you, Rachel, and Reyna are heading back home that you dare bring it up.

"Will's not straight, right?" You check because you've made that mistake before.

"If he's straight, I'm a camel."

"He was hitting on you." Reyna said, matter-of-factly, "His eyes went all gooey."

"Ooh!" This seems to delight Rachel as much as it delights you, "Nico, I'm going to be bridesmaid at your wedding." And she grabs you by hands and spins you around and you don't even protest.

You're pretty excited too.

"You two are idiots." Reyna comments.


End file.
